Eclipse Awards
Racing’s Big Night
It’s a bit of whirlwind trip, but I made it to Beverly Hills for tonight’s Eclipse Awards ceremony. After following Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta this year, and having had the good fortune to be at both of their emphatic final 2009 races, it seemed foolish not to head to California — especially when a non-stop plane ticket could be had for a small price — to hear which super distaffer would win Horse of the Year.
I’ll be doing the live blog thing below (and occasionally tweeting) beginning around 4:00 PM PT/7:00 PM ET. Since TVG is airing the awards show, and online sources for updates on who-won-what abound, breaking news won’t be my focus. Instead, it’ll be glimpses of what’s happening backstage, literally and otherwise.
Déjà Vu Eclipse
The NTRA, DRF, and NTWA announced the 2009 Eclipse award for photography this afternoon, and there was something about the winner (below right), taken by Jeff Taylor at the Blue Ridge Hunt Point to Point Races for the Winchester Star, that felt familiar. But what?
Oh, that’s it — a similar photo by Douglas Lees (above left) won in 2007.
This year’s winner is also a bit reminiscent of Matt Goins’ winning 2006 shot:
Goins won again in 2008, with a picture of jockey Frankie Dettori leaping from Donativum in the Breeders’ Cup winner’s circle.
Curious, that the Eclipse judges change each year, but that their taste for jocks in air — falling or jumping, falling while jumping — does not.
Reading into Rankings
I’ll leave it to others to debate whether it’s sexist or even right that Zenyatta finished second to tennis star Serena Williams in the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year poll and instead merely note that the mare has been running second in quite a few rankings of late, such as the decade-in-review pieces compiled by Tim Layden for Sports Illustrated and Joe Drape for the New York Times, or first, as in the annual Thoroughbred Times readers’ poll. Is this the recency effect, as Ed DeRosa suggests, or are these considered placings, all lengths ahead of Rachel Alexandra, harbingers of how the Horse of the Year vote will tally?
Rachel Alexandra Wines
“Rachel Alexandra Wines, debuting this holiday season” (via @EJXD2). Just in time for a month of parties … and for sending to Eclipse Awards voters.
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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